Quest for Retrieval
by Dark Puck
Summary: Alex is alive, though he can no longer use his Psynergy. Now he's on a quest to get his power back, and he needs four Adepts of each element to do it. Unfortunately for him, Saturos and Menardi are also alive. And they're not happy with him...
1. Prologue

prologue the first

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Venus Lighthouse…_

Saturos regained consciousness remembering precisely _why_ he hated the Fusion Psynergy. His entire body ached – though he did allow that some of his pain may have resulted from the disastrous final battle. Or falling from Venus Aerie to the bottom of the lighthouse.

How had he and – he checked – Menardi survived their fall? What had cushioned them, prevented the breaking of their backs, the smashing of their heads?

He wished thinking didn't hurt so much.

Saturos wasn't sure how long he and Menardi lay there before footsteps resounded in his ears. It wasn't often the Proxian, strongest of all the Mars Clan, knew fear. He was not pleased that this was one of those times.

Devoutly he hoped the approaching feet did not belong to the soldiers of Tolbi. In their weakened state, he and Menardi were helpless. In the next instant, however, he realised that the footsteps were far too light for even a full-grown man, let alone one in armour. A child?

Saturos heard the footsteps stop, then a startled gasp. Then they began again, much faster this time, before a boy with dark green hair and a concerned expression knelt beside Menardi. He barely had time to register light fingers feeling for a pulse before blacking out.

-§­§­§­§­§-­

prologue the second

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Mount Aleph…_

Alex hadn't realised he had such a deep, seething hatred for mountains. Among their other problems, they took far too long to climb up. Even helping Saturos and Menardi through Mercury Lighthouse had taken less time than this. However, his frustration would soon be over: he had almost reached the top.

Golden light sparkled in the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he could see the source. "The Golden Sun… The very quintessence of Alchemy's power! It's beginning!" He climbed faster, crying, "Wait for me! Please, wait! Wait until I reach the summit of Mt Aleph!"

Had he miscalculated somehow? The light should not have begun until he had already reached the peak! Spurred on by his lust for power, Alex pulled himself onto the plateau atop Mt Aleph and raced to the very middle, where he doubled over, fighting to reclaim his breath in the thin mountain air.

This didn't quite match up with his mental picture of his moment of triumph. On the other hand, nobody else would know of this momentary weakness. As he straightened, the four beams from the lighthouses converged over his head, bathing Mt Aleph – and Alex – in golden light. Laughing aloud, he raised his arms toward the heavens and cried out, "At last! I have it! Eternal life… and limitless power! At last, the power of nature is mine to control as I will!"

He could _feel_ the energy coursing through his veins, strengthening his Psynergy beyond his wildest dream. Drunk on the power, he whirled to see the world laid out before him. "Rise, storms!" he commanded. "Rise up and unleash your wrath upon Vale and the foothills of Mt Aleph!"

A breathless moment… nothing.

Alex blinked, lowering his arms in confusion. "That's odd… I should have limitless power… so why can't I call up a simple storm?"

Malevolence suddenly made itself known, and the young Imilite whirled. "Wh-who are you!?" he demanded of the stone creature that had appeared.

"I am called the Wise One…," it replied.

The name rang a bell. "The Wise One? Vale's protector?" Of all the luck!

"You wish to have limitless power?" the Wise One inquired.

Alex laughed harshly. "Wish to? I just got it!"

"No," was the cool reply. "Your power is nearly limitless, but it has boundaries."

"Nearly limitless? You speak in riddles. Can't you see? The power is mine!"

"Yes." Nothing Alex said could shake the Wise One's infinite calm. "You also have nearly endless life. And your Psynergy is… somewhat stronger."

Alex, on the other hand, found that his normally unshakeable tranquillity had been shattered by this… boulder with an eye in! Shaking with rage, he snarled, "If you are trying to anger me, have a little taste of exactly how much power I have attained!" He focused all his will on the Wise One, forcing it back. "Look at me! My body is brimming with power!"

Now he focused on destroying the guardian of Vale, hoping to be rid of this obstacle.

Instead, power crashed into him, throwing him to the ground and almost off the edge of the small plateau, paralysing him from the neck down.

"How!?" the Mercury Adept cried. "What's going on? I should be all-powerful! How could you defeat me?!?"

"You are not all-powerful, Alex," the Wise One said, calm as ever. "Your power has its limits, as does your life."

"This cannot be!" Alex wailed. "Who is responsible for this treachery? Who has robbed me of my dream?"

"I, the Wise One, imbued the Mars Star with some of the power of the forming Golden Sun. It rests even now in the hands of young Isaac."

"Why?" Alex was never to discover the answer.

"The heavens and earth are changing, Alex! You must flee now!"

"Wha-What!?"

"Mt Aleph will soon be drawn into the heart of the earth! You must flee or join it forever!"

A deep fear gripped Alex's heart. "Flee?! I can't flee! I can't even move!"

The Wise One somehow managed not to sound smug as it said, "Ah, yes. You now see the limits of your power. If you are swallowed by the earth, you may not survive."

The ground underneath the stricken Imilite began to rumble.

"If you survive, perhaps we will meet again one day…"

Alex blacked out.

* * *

_Hello, folks, Dark Puck here! For those of you wondering just why this fanfic has suddenly switched accounts, I realised that maintaining three accounts at once was a major pain in the arse and therefore I needed to get all my stories onto one account. Just so we have that straight. D_

Golden Sun_ and all locations and characters are all _© _2001 to Nintendo and Camelot. I'm just borrowing them and promise to put them back the way I found them._


	2. One

chapter the first  
-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Vale…_

"Hey, Garet!" Jenna called.

Garet's eyebrow twitched as he wondered which village girl she was going to try to set him up with this time. The younger Mars Adept seemed to feel that everyone involved with the lighting of the Lighthouses should have someone, since she and her brother had managed to obtain romantic interests. Ivan, Mia, and Piers had managed to escape Jenna's matchmaking by returning to their hometowns.

_I should have gone to Lemuria with Piers_, he thought sourly as he turned. _I never did get the chance to see it_. He wouldn't admit, even to himself, that Jenna's relationship with his best friend, Isaac, was a large part of his grumpiness, and that her matchmaking only made the sting worse.

Then he realised she looked worried.

"Garet, have you seen Rose?"

It took Garet a moment to connect a face to the name. When he did, he came up with bright green eyes, a shy smile, and a basket of herbs. From there, he followed the image through his memories until he located the most recent recollection of seeing her. He didn't like the answer he came up with. "Not for a week, at least."

Jenna didn't like his answer either. "Since her last delivery to the Apothecary, you mean. Nobody else has seen her since then, either."

"Has someone checked her house?"

"Felix and Isaac went. They said it was empty, and that nobody had been there for awhile."

"How long?" Garet demanded.

"Four days, Felix said. And… she had a guest."

Garet scowled. Rose never had guests. The girl was very much a loner, having lost both her parents long before Saturos and Menardi's failed first attempt to solve the puzzles of the Sol Sanctum. Jenna's next words, however, collected his full attention. "Felix thinks Alex kidnapped her."

"**_WHAT!?_**" Garet roared.

Nobody had heard from Alex in the six months since the lighting of the Mars Lighthouse. Garet, like his team-mates, had been more than happy to assume that the power-hungry Mercury Adept had perished when Mt Aleph sank into the earth. In hindsight, he realised they should have looked for a body. The manipulative Imilite was like a cockroach.

Six months, he realised, was more than enough time for Alex to recover from any injuries. Especially with his Psynergy. Especially if Rose and her herbs had been helping him. "Why does he think Alex is involved?" Garet demanded, fighting down a surge of protective anger. Felix might just have been assuming –

"He found Alex's cloak."

"_Damn_ it!" Garet burst out angrily, not noticing the sly gleam in Jenna's eyes.

"Come on, Garet," she urged. "Brother and Isaac want to talk to us."

In the end, it was decided that Felix and Garet would leave Vale once more to search for Rose, hopefully picking up Ivan or Sheba on the way. Mind Read, as nervous as it made Garet, was a useful tool.

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Kibombo…_

Blaze was furious. How _dare_ Akafubu reject his suit for Njeri! It wasn't enough that the young warrior had fire powers; apparently he was supposed to magically develop wealth overnight? Akafubu hadn't objected to Blaze's courtship of his sister before becoming witch doctor, Blaze reflected angrily as he stormed past the borders of Kibombo.

Once he was far enough from the village, he turned to a lone bush and snarled, "**Flare!**" To his immense satisfaction, the innocent shrub burst into flame.

"An interesting display of temper," a cool voice commented.

Startled, Blaze whirled, raising the spear he was never without at the same time, coming to face a pale man with blue hair. The pale man merely smiled calmly. "You can put that away. My companion and I mean you no harm."

"Companion?" Blaze demanded, keeping his spear at the ready.

The stranger signalled with his left hand. "Come on out, Rose."

After a few seconds, a girl not much younger than he was stepped out of the shadows. She was slightly darker than the man, though not as dark as Blaze, and her hair was the colour of tree bark. Most importantly, she didn't seem like a threat.

The warrior lowered his spear.

"Good man," the stranger said with a chilly smile.

"Who are you?" Blaze demanded.

"My name is Alex. I come from a town called Imil. My friend is Rose; she comes from Vale." Rose nodded to Blaze before kneeling by the torched bush.

Blaze raised an eyebrow before turning his attention back on Alex. "My name is Blaze. I'm a warrior of Kibombo."

Alex arched an eyebrow in turn. "Blaze… that's an odd name for one from Gondowan."

Blaze flushed, but didn't explain. "What do you want with me?" he asked now.

The Imilite shrugged. "I have need of your particular power," he admitted. "You're a Mars Adept - Guard class, if I'm not mistaken."

This pronouncement was met with a blank stare. Alex smiled. "Of course, not coming from a village of Adepts, you wouldn't know the source of your power, would you?"

Blaze opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a soft, "**Growth.**" He and Alex turned to see the girl Rose surrounded by rings of blue light. Green spheres spilled from her hands to fall onto the bush, making it bigger and getting rid of any sign that an angry Kibomban had burned it.

Alex smiled. "Rose is a Venus Adept, ironically of the Brute class. As you can see, her powers pertain to earth."

"…Brute?" Blaze asked incredulously as Rose stood up and moved back to Alex's side.

"Yes, well…" Alex said, smiling at the girl. That smile made the young warrior shiver. "In any case, as to what I want with you… I have need of your power, Blaze. In return, however, the quest will make you much stronger."

Blaze was suddenly very interested. "Tell me more."

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Gondowan/Tolbi…_

His legs were starting to go numb.

Well, it was a nice change from the pain, Gale reflected, wincing as he looked at the boulder pinning him down. Perhaps using Whirlwind to hold it up hadn't been the brightest of ideas. The boy grunted and tried to pull himself out again, failing yet again. If he couldn't get out before the sun set… well, he'd be able to get out after. Maybe. If someone didn't see him.

Time passed slowly, and Gale fell slowly into delirium.

-

Blaze could not help but wonder when, precisely, he had been made Rose's keeper. Every village they stopped in, she would vanish until sundown, at which point Alex would invariably send him after the Venus Adept. Why did he bother? Surely Rose must have pulled stunts like this before the pair of them had recruited him…

Annoyed, he wandered outside Tolbi, heading for the nearest source of untamed plant life, which was where Rose would be found every time.

An hour later, Blaze reflected that of course tonight she would choose not to follow her normal pattern. He'd gone all the way to Gondowan Cave and found no sign of Rose. He stopped outside the cave, wondering if he should have gone north rather than retracing their steps, when Rose came flying out of the entrance. "Blaze!" she cried. "You've got to help – there's an animal trapped under a boulder!"

Blaze began to protest, but she already had him by the arm and was dragging him into the cave after her. With a resigned sigh, he followed, wondering why he let her drag him around. "Where's your cloak?" he asked as they walked.

"He was shaking. I had to keep him warm, so I put it over him."

_How in the world is her Psynergy Class _Brute? Blaze wondered yet again.

At long last, they had reached the boulder holding the stricken animal down. The Kibomban stared at it, then at Rose. "And what, exactly, am I supposed to do about THAT?" he demanded. "Lift it off and carry it away?"

Rose shook her head. "Just help me shift it enough so we can pull him free," she pleaded.

Blaze gave in before she could give him the Eyes. "All right, all right…" He planted his spear in the ground, then sat with his back to the boulder, wriggling to get purchase. "Are you ready?"

The girl nodded, moving around to where the animal was and speaking soothing nonsense words to it. Blaze grunted and pushed up with his legs, using all his strength as a warrior to move the boulder. _That thing is _heavy he thought, feeling the strain in his back and thighs. "Hurry, Rose! I can't hold it for very long!"

"I have him!"

With relief, Blaze let the boulder drop, letting the accursed thing support him while he regained his strength. "How is he?" he asked, some of his annoyance coming through his voice.

His answer came in the form of a Psynergy command. "**Cure Well.**"

Blaze frowned, concerned despite himself. "Are you sure we shouldn't take him to a Sanctum?" he asked, rising to his feet and walking to see Rose and her animal.

He stopped short at the rather anthropomorphic body lying before her, its head in her lap.

"_That…_ is not an animal."

Rose gave him a sheepish look. "I know."

Blaze attempted to give voice to several thoughts at once, and only succeeded in a garbled succession of vowels before he managed, in a rather strangled tone, "_And you didn't think to mention it?_"

"I didn't have time for you to argue, Blaze," she replied, much more honestly than he liked.

"I don't argue about everything," he grumbled.

She just raised an eyebrow before wrapping the… wolf-boy up in her cloak.

"Oh, no!" the Guard exclaimed. "We are _not_ bringing that back to Tolbi with us!"

"We can't just leave him here!"

"Oh, yes we can!"

-

"How did I get talked into this?" Blaze growled. He, Rose, and the wolf-thing were almost to Tolbi, Blaze having taken charge of it when Rose began stumbling from the strain of carrying it on her back.

"Face it, Blaze," she told him, "You're a nice person."

"I'm a warrior of Kibombo!"

"Warriors can't be nice? I'll have to mention that to Isaac, then."

"Who's Isaac?"

As they talked, they carefully shifted Rose's cloak to more easily hide the thing – the last thing either of them wanted was to explain the strange creature in Blaze's arms to Tolbi's guards. They made it all the way to the inn before Blaze said, "Alex is going to kill you."

"No, he won't."

"He's not going to let you keep it."

Rose just smiled in a way that indicated that Alex might not have a choice in the matter.

Neither of them noticed a pair of startled golden eyes watching them.

-

At the sound of footsteps, both Saturos and Menardi tensed and reached for their weapons, but they relaxed as they saw the familiar green hair. "Back so soon, Jacob?" Saturos gently teased the boy who had nursed him and Menardi back to health.

"I heard something… interesting," Jacob told him.

Menardi rolled her eyes, but said nothing. Saturos had overruled her when she had wanted to leave the boy in Lalivero, so as far as the female Proxian was concerned, Jacob was entirely his responsibility. At least he was streetwise enough to make up for not being an Adept.

"What did you hear?"

Jacob's golden eyes were clear and guileless. "I think the Alex you knew is in Tolbi."

Menardi spoke before her partner could. "How can you be sure?" she demanded. "Alex is a common name."

"Not in Tolbi," Jacob pointed out. "I heard some people mention an Alex, so I followed them. They met with someone who looked like the guy you described to me."

Menardi smiled. "Well. We'll have to ascertain this for ourselves, won't we?" she purred.

Saturos held up a hand. "Not now," he cautioned. "Tomorrow. Confronting Alex is best done with a decent night's sleep."

Menardi sighed. "If we must."

The other Proxian smirked at her. "Don't worry, Menardi – I'm as eager as you to see if the so-called Wise One was correct about Alex's motives."

-

Gale came to slowly, fighting down his wolfish instincts. To his surprise, he found himself lying in a bed, his legs no longer numb or in pain. The young werewolf gingerly opened his eyes to see an older girl sleeping on the floor by the bed he lay on, her dark brown hair messy and tangled around her shoulders.

Had she saved him?

Carefully, the werewolf slid out of the bed, padding gently to the girl and kneeling by her. She was smiling in her sleep, despite the cold, wooden floor and the cloak serving as a blanket. Gale considered, then pulled the blanket off the bed and covered her with it. It wasn't as though he had need of it.

* * *

_And thus do we meet the OCs! Rose, Blaze, Gale, and Jacob are all mine, for the record - though I'm not entirely sure why you'd want them. In any case, I'm going to go ahead and let you know now that Rose will _**not** _be getting together with Alex. No, no, and again no._


	3. Two

chapter the second

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_Alhafra…_

Felix barely managed to wait until Ivan had ensured that there were no eavesdroppers near their room before exploding.

"Damn that greedy bastard and his fat, money-grubbing fingers!"

Garet and Ivan regarded the normally quiet young man with some surprise. Such outbursts were quite unlike him. "Felix, it's to be expected that passage on a ship to Lemuria would be expensive," Ivan began, trying to soothe him, but their unofficial party leader would have none of it.

"He's jacking the price up deliberately!" the Slayer snarled. "Who'd think he'd still blame me because Briggs stole a ship that was no longer his? Especially as there wasn't a whole lot _I_ could have done about it!"

Garet and Ivan wisely held their peace as Felix continued to rant, allowing him to get it out of his system, before Garet asked mildly, "Alex doesn't realise we're here, right?" Felix nodded, opening his mouth, but Garet cut him off, asking Ivan. "How far will we be set back if we catch a ship in another town?"

The Sorcerer smiled slowly, "Only a day, maybe two at best… and wouldn't you say Briggs owes you a favour, Felix?"

The anger drained from Felix's face. "Yes… yes, he does. And we have the advantage of knowing where Alex is going, as well as surprise."

Garet leapt to his feet. "Then what are we waiting for?" the Hero demanded. "Let's hightail it to Champa already!"

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Somewhere near the middle of the Eastern Sea…_

Alex stared idly out at the horizon before him, where he fancied he could – however barely – make out Lemuria. It was only an idle fancy, as he knew full well the blasted fog obscured everything more than fifty yards away and would last until they passed into the Sea of Time. The Imilite was hard-pressed to contain his glee – he had never been to Lemuria before, and the mere thought of the libraries the city-state must contain made his mouth water.

Surely one of the books would contain the secret to regaining his lost power. He knew already that he would need at least one Adept of each element to gain access again to the Lighthouses. Stumbling across Gale had been a lucky break he'd not anticipated, and welcome enough that he could ignore the boy's age of fourteen – after all, Sheba had been his age when Saturos and Menardi had kidnapped her, nearly two years ago now.

Alex sighed. Damn Menardi anyway, for interrupting Kraden's tale of an Alchemist who had lost his power. Granted, he'd never thought then he'd need information like that, but then again, he'd never anticipated losing his power….

His right hand clenched into a fist as he again recalled his disastrous encounter with the Wise One. That power had been his by right! And he had grasped it for a few short, glorious moments, until that damned cyclopean rock had stolen not only his new power, but all his Psynergy as well! It just wasn't _fair_!

Aware that he was stewing in rage that would do him no good – and that his hand was beginning to hurt – Alex forced himself to calm down. He was well on the way to recovering his Psynergy, if not the full power of the Golden Sun, with three of the four Adepts needed at his side and not a day's travel from the place where he would learn all he needed to restore himself. And to think he owed it all to a Valan named Rose.

Had she not found him and cared for him over the long months needed for his recovery, Alex knew full well that he would have died. As it was, he owed the young girl his life… and had instead convinced her to come with him on a quest that might full well cost her her own. Not only that, she had accepted all responsibility for the lycanthrope Gale and had done much to tame the warrior Blaze. _She'll make some man a fine wife… if she lives that long_.

Blaze and Gale were easy enough to control – Blaze was questing for glory so he might court some high-ranking girl in his home village, and Gale was happy as long as Rose was there to mother him. Ah, but Rose… he had no hold at all on the girl, and this vexed him. It meant she was free to leave him at any time, and if she left, he didn't doubt he'd lose his Jupiter Adept as well. She was happy enough for the moment, but Alex knew that young females were often subject to wild mood swings at the most random of times.

And all this brooding was doing him no good. Alex shook his head and went inside.

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Lemuria…_

Piers was beyond bored.

The long-lived Lemurians often took life slowly, but he hadn't understood _how_ slowly until his return home after the lighting of the Mars Lighthouse. Utterly amazing – he had been gone for little more than a year, barely an eyeblink to his people, and yet so _much_ had happened in that short span of time. To return to lazy Lemuria, where _decades_ might pass without anything of note happening, was nothing short of torture.

The only upshots of this were that not only was Lord Conservato ignoring him these days, he now had more time to spend with his young daughter. Sometimes Piers rather felt that the only reason he'd been allowed back home was because of his contribution to the female half of Lemuria's child population – it was hoped he might sire another child. Perhaps if his wife hadn't died soon after the girl's birth…

_Piers?_

The voice in his head was young, male, uncertain, and sounded like Ivan. Startled, he nearly tripped while going down the stairs leading to the docks. "Wha—Ivan!?"

_Don't turn around!_ the boy ordered. _I'm not in Lemuria. And don't speak, either – just thinking is enough._

_Ivan, what--?_

_Hama__calls it Telepathy. It's like a long-range version of Mind Read. Kind of. Look, I can't keep this up very long, so just listen to me. Alex is alive – _and at this, Piers _did_ stumble and fall down the stairs. Fortunately, there were only two steps left – _and he seems to be gathering Adepts. We think. _ Piers could somehow sense that Ivan's 'we' included Felix and Garet. _He's travelling with a Venus Adept and a Mars Adept, at any rate. And some kid. We're on the boat just behind him, but he's ahead of us by a couple days. Could you keep him or his pet Adepts in Lemuria when they get there?_

Without warning, the contact was gone, leaving Piers with the Migraine from Hell.

* * *

_I'd like to take this time to re-iterate that whatever subtext you see here, Alex has no romantic interest in Rose whatsoever. She's a useful tool that he has no hold over, and that annoys him._


	4. Three

chapter the third  
-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Kolima…_

"… let me get this straight," Menardi said sweetly.

Jacob knew the danger signs by now and had vanished the moment Menardi had smiled at Saturos. The male Proxian vaguely wished he could follow suit as his partner continued, "You _knew_ Alex was heading toward Lemuria, _and you marched us in the opposite direction!?_"

Saturos winced, but her reaction hadn't been entirely unanticipated. Calmly, he replied, "Yes. As much as I hate admitting it, neither of us is in any condition to fight four Adepts, let alone Alex on his own," _if he'd even deign to dirty his hands by battling us_. Menardi opened her mouth to protest, but Saturos didn't give her the chance. "Besides which, we should return to Prox and let our people know we survived. We owe them that much."

Menardi reluctantly acquiesced, and Saturos barely managed to hide his relief that she hadn't questioned him further. There was another reason he intended to head to Prox by way of Vale – he, too, recalled Kraden's tale, and he though he had a pretty good idea as to _why_ Alex had gathered a trio of Adepts with differing elements. Felix had to be warned, and Saturos needed to get the rest of the story from Kraden…

"Jacob?" Menardi asked, intruding on Saturos' thoughts. The Proxian came to reality with a jolt to see their young companion doubled over in front of them, gasping for breath. "What is it?"

"There's… two girls… to see you," he reported between gasps of air. "Said they… wanted to… talk."

"Who?" Menardi demanded, reaching for her scythe.

"Dunno. Never… met 'em before. Said… their names were… Sheba and Mia."

Saturos drew his sword reflexively, his red eyes narrowed. It was Menardi, oddly enough, who stayed his hand. "A healer and a mind-reader are less likely to attack," she told him softly. The other Mars Adept nodded and sheathed his weapon – he recalled his two fights with the Mia girl. She had been reluctant to fight.

"We'll talk," he told Jacob. The boy nodded and raced back down to the Inn's first floor. Alone, Saturos and Menardi came to an unspoken accord, keeping their weapons close to hand in case this talk turned out to be an attack.

They needn't have worried.

Sheba and Mia, when Jacob led them into the room, were both unarmed, though Saturos could see that both of their Djinni-belts – how he _despised_ those little elemental creatures – were full. So, they truly came in peace, but were not fool enough to come undefended.

_Ares, Sheba_ _has grown!_

Actually, he realised, there was a subtle difference about both of the girls, a difference in how they carried themselves. They seemed more confident. _Interesting_.

The blonde opened the conversation. "So," she said, "Master Hama was right. You survived."

A shared glance indicated that Menardi would speak for them as Sheba seemed to be speaking for herself and Mia. Saturos took a seat and indicated that the women should do the same, Jacob having disappeared again on some random task. As Sheba and Menardi began discussing travel plans, and arguing over whether or not the Angel and the Sorcerer would be accompanying them, Mia and Saturos moved away and ignored them.

"How is it you're alive?" Mia asked quietly. "After the battle, you were so weak… and then you fell down the middle of the Lighthouse. We thought for sure that the fall had killed you!"

Saturos sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. The last thing I remember before waking up was falling from the Aerie. When I woke up, Menardi and I had somehow survived. I'm not sure how."

Mia accepted this. "And the boy who greeted us? You didn't kidnap him like you did Sheba, did you?"

Saturos didn't take offence. He just smiled and said, "Jacob saved us both. He hid us from the soldiers of Tolbi and nursed us back to health."

Mia blinked. "That's odd… I didn't sense any Psynergy from him…"

"He doesn't have any. He used herbs and potions until we regained enough strength for Menardi to heal me." Saturos smiled fondly. "He asked to come with us – he's an orphan, so Lalivero really didn't hold much for him."

Mia nodded, hiding her smile behind her hand. Felix was right – the two Proxians really weren't that bad.

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Lemuria…_

Rain didn't like Lord Conservato at all, but she had to admit he was at least predictable. Ever since Lemuria had opened for trade, Conservato had turned up at her father's home to whine and complain every day a ship was due. Rain had stayed to listen once, and had gotten lost amidst the accusations of ruining Lemurian culture, consorting with short-lived hoodlums, and worries that thieves would make off with priceless Lemurian artefacts. When Conservato began to repeat himself, her father had caught her eye and sent her off to play with her friend Rio.

Now, as soon as the knocking came on their door three hours after dawn on ship days, Rain would slip out the back door to avoid a lecture from the Senate leader on respecting her elders and the duties of youth and meet Rio at the docks to wait for the ship to come in. The two young Lemurians loved watching the sailors and tradesmen unloading their wares and setting up shops in a lesser-used area of the harbour – foreign tradesmen were not yet allowed to sell in the city itself, a restriction her father was fighting to overturn.

On the other hand, Rain and Rio had discovered that if they hung out around the ships long enough, the captains would pay them to run messages to various Senators or favoured customers, so this worked out for them.

This time, however, the ship carried passengers other than merchants – four people, one of whom had the darkest skin Rain had ever seen. The apparent leader had hair as blue as any Lemurian's, a fact that made the girl's breath catch in her throat. This man was talking quietly to a girl with brown hair, while the dark man was keeping an eye on a boy with dusky blond hair.

Rain was distracted from her observations by a merchant who wanted them to carry a message to Senator Frost for him. After a quick discussion, Rio dashed off with the message, leaving Rain to watch the unloading – until a hand tapped her shoulder gently.

Startled, the girl turned to see a the brunette lady smiling down at her. "Excuse me," the lady said, "but could you show us where your library is?"

Rain considered this. She knew foreign merchants couldn't enter Lemuria, but this woman and her friends, while not merchants, were foreigners. On the other hand, however, her father had brought strangers into the city proper… "Sure!" she replied, grinning back at the lady, who looked over to her companions.

"Alex!" she called. "I've found us a guide!"

The other three foreigners came their way, causing Rain to realise that the blond boy wasn't much older than she was. _Daddy was right,_ she thought, amazed. _Foreigners have more children than we do. I wonder what it would be like having others my age to play with…_ The daughter of Admiral Piers smiled up at the strangers, giving no trace of her thoughts away. "Follow me, please!"

She led them up to the main part of Lemuria; fortunately, most Lemurians were asleep at this time of day, so the streets were mainly deserted. The only people who were awake were traders, and they were all headed to the dock. Rain let out a soft sigh of relief when they reached the library without incident, and she begged the quartet, "Please try to be unobtrusive – we don't get many foreigners in Lemuria."

The blue-haired man – Alex – nodded and ordered, "Blaze, Gale, you stay with our young guide here. Ask her to show you around. Rose, I'll need your help." The lady nodded, following Alex inside the library.

Left alone, the boy and the dark man looked around helplessly, then at Rain, who smiled brightly at them. "Come with me – I'll show you the Lemuria Fountain!"

Bemused, the two youngsters followed her.

"What is it we're looking for, Alex?" Rose asked him softly.

The Imilite was silent for a moment, then replied, "Look for books regarding legends, and regaining lost power. I'll do the same."

They passed several quiet hours in this manner, until someone cleared their throat. Man and girl looked up to see an angry-looking older man with six armed guards.

"Who are you?" the older man demanded, glaring at them. "Who said you _foreigners_ could come here and steal away our most precious secrets?"

Alex calmly closed his book and raised a blue eyebrow at the man. "What sort of fool would write his most precious secret in a book, where all and sundry may view it?" he asked with a slight smile. He didn't like the looks of this at all.

"Foreigners are not allowed in the city proper!" the man exclaimed, ignoring Alex's question.

_So, that would mean the answer is _politics_. I _hate _politics. _"I do apologise," the Mercury adept said politely. "I was only aware that _merchants_ were forbidden here. As you can see, we are naught but humble tourists," _and when the world is mine, you are going to _suffer _for this_.

The man snorted. "I doubt that! I know who you are, insolent puppy! Deny that you are he who would claim the Golden Sun!"

Alex didn't even blink, regarding the man with an honest gaze. "The Golden Sun? Sounds a bit impossible to claim, don't you think?" Unfortunately, his lie didn't work.

"Get them!" the man ordered.

Alex grabbed Rose by the arm and pulled her out of the way. "Run for it, Rose!" he yelled at her.

The girl didn't waste time arguing. She bolted past the old man; when two guards got in her way, she slammed her hand into the ground and cried, "**Mad Growth!**" Alex watched her escape, well-pleased with her quick thinking. The diversion she had just created had enabled him to slip the book he had been reading into his tunic.

Those guards not tangled up in Rose's vines surrounded him, and Alex raised his hand in surrender, hiding a smile.

* * *

_Sorry it took so long to get this chapter back up - I had some issues with the document uploader. D_


	5. Four

chapter the fourth

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Lemuria…_

After five goes each in the Lemuria Fountain, Gale had quadrupled what money he had, while Blaze had earned a Psynergy enhancer called a Burst Brooch. By that point, Rain's young friend Rio had joined them, and the pair had urged the two foreigners out of sight before the rest of the lazy population came outside. Now the quartet was relaxing in a grassy clearing right behind the Senate building.

Gale was teaching Rio a game that involved kicking a round ball around, and Rain was attempting to tame the red bush that constituted Blaze's hair. This was accomplished with several complaints of pain on the warrior's part and several accusations of being a baby on the little girl's. When she finished, his hair lay neatly against his scalp in several rows of braids.

The young man fingered his new hairstyle gingerly and sighed, then eyed the child's pair of ponytails before deciding that it could have been much worse. "So, when can we go out?" he asked her.

"When Daddy says it's all right," the girl replied. "We have to—"

"_Quiet!_" Gale snapped without warning. Startled, the other three turned to look at the Jupiter Adept. He stood still, eyes closed and hands upraised, his face oddly blank. Blaze had seen this before – Gale was listening to voices on the wind again.

"_Any sign of the girl?_"

"_No. She vanished in the docks."_

"_What about the other two foreigners? The dark man and the boy?"_

"_Nobody's seen them since they left the dock; the prisoner says he let them wander."_

"_Conservato won't like that."_

"_Forget Conservato – the Admiral is going to flip his lid."_

"… _you know… I think that we're about due for a break."_

"…_yeah. Let's go. _Now_."_

Gale opened his eyes, snarling as though he were in his wolf form.

"Gale, what is it?" Blaze asked softly.

"We're in trouble," the werewolf replied. "The Lemurians are looking for Rose – and us. I think Alex has been arrested. The man I overheard said that someone called Conservato was not gonna like it that they couldn't find us, then his partner said that some admiral was going to flip."

Rain's eyes went wide. "Oh, no," the girl whispered. "He couldn't have!?"

The Garohan and the Kibomban spun to face the children. "Couldn't have _what_?" Blaze demanded.

Rio looked as startled as his friend. "He's been threatening to jail foreigners caught in the city for months," he answered. "Admiral Piers – Rain's dad – told him that went against every law we have and that if he tried it, he'd take it all the way to King Hydros –"

"Which won't help us in the long run," Blaze interrupted, wishing he had his spear. "We've got to find Rose."

"You can't," Rain told him. "The minute they see you, they'll arrest you too. Rio, you look for their friend. I'll take them to our secret place."

Rio nodded and dashed off as Rain led the foreigners away.

-§­§­§­§­§­-

_Kolima_…

By the time Sheba and Menardi had wrapped up their argument, Saturos and Mia had agreed to merge parties, calculated the fastest route to Vale, figured out what they'd need in the way of provisions to get them to Vault, and sent Jacob out to purchase the extra supplies. At last the sounds of debate died down, and a triumphant Sheba led Menardi to the other two, announcing, "Mia, we're coming with them."

Menardi, well aware of how Saturos had gotten Felix in their party years ago, eyed the pair suspiciously and added dryly, "But you already decided that, didn't you, Saturos?"

Mia smiled sheepishly at the stunned Jupiter Adept. "I'm sorry, Sheba, but it looked like you were enjoying yourself. I didn't have the heart to interrupt."

"In addition, Menardi," Saturos added, putting a hand on Mia's shoulder, "we need them to keep Isaac and Garet from attacking."

Menardi noticed Mia's slight blush and glared at the offending hand. Saturos moved it as she grumbled, "I though that was what Felix was for."

"Well, normally, it is," Mia answered, her blush fading away, "but there's a problem with that strategy – he's taken Garet and is chasing after Alex."

Saturos raised an eyebrow at her. "What do _they_ want with Alex?"

"It was Garet's idea," Sheba answered. "Apparently Alex had been hiding out in the rebuilt Vale, since a local girl gave him shelter. They didn't realise Alex lived until she vanished. We're not sure if she's been kidnapped or if she's gone with him willingly."

The Proxians exchanged a glance. "If the girl is a brunette Venus Adept named Rose, she's with him willingly," Menardi said. "Jacob spotted them when we were in Tolbi. She's been helping him recruit."

Mia looked at Sheba, who nodded and closed her eyes. The next instant, the Jupiter Adept began to glow with Psynergetic light.

-§­§­§­§­§-­

_Sea__of Time_…

The faint glow, visible only to Felix, Garet, and the man running the ship, died down as a troubled-looking Ivan opened his eyes. "I am never going to hear the end of this," he muttered before turning his piercing violet gaze on Garet. The Mars Adept was not going to like this turn of events at all.

-§­§­§­§­§­-

_Vale…_

Isaac opened his eyes, rubbing his temples as he considered what he'd just learned from Sheba. So, Rose had left Vale willingly… and he wasn't sure if this was good news or bad news. Well, whatever it was, it had cost him a bad migraine – he'd be paying the Apothecary a visit before delivering this update to Jenna and the mayor.

-§­§­§­§­§­-

_Lemuria…_

Rose took full advantage of her head start on the Lemurians, using it to make good her escape. With every step, she mentally thanked Isaac for pushing her and the other young Adepts in Vale to make use of their Psynergy and showing them how to use it for combat. Without his training, she would have been caught by now.

She was still several yards ahead of her pursuers when she made it to the docking cavern. With a rakehell grin, she threw herself into the crowd of merchants, using their diversity in appearance to hide herself as she made her way to the ship they had arrived in.

_Hold on, Alex…_

-

Piers was talking to the ship's captain when a young girl pushed past him, leapt up to the stern of the ship and dove into the water. "What the hell!?" the foreigner yelped.

Right in the heels of that cry came a young voice yelling, "Admiral! Admiral!"

Piers nodded to the captain and ran off the ship, locating Rio amidst the crowd. "Rio, what's going on?" he demanded of the boy.

"It's bad," Rio gasped, and explained about the group of foreigners he and Rain had been shepherding around, and what Conservato had ordered.

"The _hell_ he has!" Piers snarled. Hauling Rio up under one of his muscular arms, Piers leaped atop a stack of crates. He set Rio down, then called out, "Merchants of Kalay, Tolbi, and Vault! For your own safety you _must _board your vessel _now_. Your goods are safe, but you are not! Board ship and await further instructions from me!"

That done, he turned to Rio. "Go to Rain and the other two. I'll see to the girl who jumped, then I'm going to have words with Conservato. Go home when night falls." He helped Rio down, slipped to a less-busy portion of the dock, stripped to his trousers, and dove into the water. It hadn't been too hard to figure out that his daughter's "secret place" was Ancient Lemuria – the ruins of a city that lay under the present Lemuria. It also wasn't too hard to figure out that someone had told the girl of the water route to the ruins. Unfortunately, it was a long swim for someone unused to water. The girl would need his help.


End file.
